Discover 13 animals starting with the letter ‘w’, but what have we forgotten? Let us know…

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Published: Monday, 22 July 2024 at 11:21 AM


From the strange-looking warthog to the pretty wasp spider here are 13 fascinating animals starting with the letter ‘W’.

13 animals beginning with ‘W’ 

Wombat

Wombats are a mostly nocturnal marsupial, endemic to Australia. They aren’t exactly small, being up to a metre long and weighing up to 40kg.

Wombats are in fact the planet’s largest burrowing herbivores. They dig using their front claws and push soil backwards with their hind feet and rump. They create subterranean systems up to 30m long and several metres deep, and feature various entrances.

Wasp spider

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A pretty spider named for its wasp-like colouration and stripes, the wasp spider is a relatively recent arrival in the UK and is gradually spreading northwards. Females are larger than males, allowing a male to sneak into the female’s web and mate with her.

The wasp spider is one of the UK’s biggest spiders

Whale shark 

The whale shark is both the largest living shark and the largest living fish on earth, growing up to 20metres in length. As a filter feeder, it feeds on tiny plankton instead hunting for fish. Its back is covered in a unique pattern of spots, allowing research to identify different individuals. 

White-tailed eagle 

The white-tailed eagle became extinct in the British Isles in 1918, but was successful reintroduced between 1975-85 to the Inner Hebrides. Further reintroductions then took place in Scotland, and then in England on the Isle of Wight.

Wallace’s sphinx moth 

Esculapio, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Wallace’s sphinx moth is unusual in that its existence was predicted 30 years before it was discovered, first by Charles Darwin and then by Alfred Russel Wallace. Both were hypothesising that a particular species of orchid would be pollinated by a moth with a long proboscis – which turned out to be the now-named Wallace’s sphinx moth.

Wren

Wrens are tiny, dumpy brown birds with long legs, a fine bill, short round wings and a short, narrow tail. Wrens feed on tiny invertebrates, including spiders, flies, beetles and ants, which they grab with that long, pointed bill. Because these creatures are available all year round – unlike, for example, some flying insects – wrens have little or no need to migrate.

 Wart-biter 

 Wart-biter 
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The wart-biter is a large green species of bush-cricket, which is found in just six sites in the UK, all in southern England. Despite having wings, the species rarely flies as it is very heavy. It is named as people used to use them for removing warts. 

Wolverine 

The wolverine isn’t just a fictional superhero from the Marvel comics and films, but also a real-life animal. It is the largest terrestrial species in the mustelid family. Although it can prey on large animals, it is typically a scavenger that feeds on carrion. 

Weasel

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Weasels are small, brown, fast and ferocious mustelids with sinuous bodies and short legs. They are up to 20cm long and live in hedgerows, woodland and rough grassy banks.

 Warthog

The warthogs are two species of wild pigs belonging to Phacochoerus genus, the common warthog (widespread in sub-Saharan Africa) and the desert warthog (limited to Northern Kenya and Somalia). Both species mainly feed on plants, but will also eat insects, eggs and carrion. 

White rhino

James Mwenda, conservationist at Ol Pejeta Conservancy with one of the two remaining northern white rhinos. © Charlotte Lathane/BBC
James Mwenda, conservationist at Ol Pejeta Conservancy with one of the two remaining northern white rhinos. © Charlotte Lathane/BBC

Found in parts of Africa, the white rhino has two subspecies – southern and northern. Whilst the former is doing well, the northern white rhino is on the brink of extinction with only two living individuals – two related females which are kept under armed protection in Kenya. 

Western gorilla 

One of two species of gorilla, the Western gorilla is found in Western Africa and spilt into two subspecies, the Western lowland gorilla and the Cross River gorilla. Both subspecies, and the species as a whole, are listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List.

 Water vole 

Water vole feeding by a pond
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In the UK, the European water vole is the largest vole species and can sometimes be mistaken for a brown rat. In the introduction of the non-native American mink, alongside habitat loss and degradation, has severely impacted the population and dedicated conservation projects have been undertaken to help the species.